So much for DMX becoming a pastor. Less than a year after he was released from jail on good behaviour, with plans to dedicate himself to God, the rapper has been arrested for violating the terms of his parole.

On Tuesday, DMX, real name Earl Simmons, admitted to his parole officer that he had been using cocaine over the last nine months, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio told Reuters. DMX was charged with five counts of violating probation and admitted to a Phoenix jail. He is being kept separate from other inmates.

Last year, DMX spent 90 days behind bars on drugs, weapons and animal cruelty convictions. Over the last three years, he has also been arrested for speeding, driving with a suspended licence, throwing a food tray while in jail, and using someone else's social security number to obtain medical care at a Florida hospital.

"We would hope that he is finally sent to prison ... [for] big time," Arpaio told the Arizona Republic. "We've arrested him five times already. How many times do you have to violate the law?"

Three dogs, found at DMX's home in 2007, are now at a former jail that has been converted into a home for abused animals. "The irony is that the dogs he's abused have done more time than this guy has done with so many different violations, including assaulting one of my officers," Arpaio said.

This isn't exactly the life that DMX predicted when speaking in January 2009. Jail, he told Fox 10 News, had taught him his "true calling in life, which is to be a pastor". "I came here to meet somebody. I don't know who it is, but I came to tell them that Jesus loves them. To tell them about the glory of God."